I would rather be tied to the soil as another man's serf, even a poor man's, who hadn't… — Homer

I would rather be tied to the soil as another man's serf, even a poor man's, who hadn't much to live on himself, than be King of all these the dead and destroyed.

In the original Greek

βουλοίμην κ᾽ ἐπάρουρος ἐὼν θητευέμεν ἄλλῳ, ἀνδρὶ παρ᾽ ἀκλήρῳ, ᾧ μὴ βίοτος πολὺς εἴη, ἢ πᾶσιν νεκύεσσι καταφθιμένοισιν ἀνάσσειν.

The Odyssey · 700 BC
★ 2.3
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Current citation
Homer. The Odyssey, edited by Bernard Knox, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2006, bk. 11, l. 489-491.
Original citation
Homer. Ὀδύσσεια [Odyssey]. c. 710 BC, bk. 11, l. 489-491.